Sealed Your Fate
by DarkElements10
Summary: Naminé is the new kid in school and doesn't know about the gangs. Roxas is the leader of one gang, Sora is the leader of the other. Naminé gets stuck in the middle. When it all comes down to it, where do Naminé's loyalties lie? -N x R- -S x K- -High School AU/Gang AU-
1. Prologue

**Sealed Your Fate**

**Summary**** – Naminé is the new kid in school and doesn't know about the gangs. Roxas is the leader of one gang, Sora is the leader of the other. Naminé get stuck in the middle. When it all comes down to it, where do Naminé's loyalties lie? RoxasxNaminé SoraxKairi **

**Prologue**

* * *

The droning of the alarm clock startled Naminé awake. While at first feeling groggy, it took only an instant for reality to strike, stirring her with a flash of anxiety. Naminé's eyes popped open, her off-white ceiling quickly coming to focus.

Feeling tired would have to wait for later. Though Naminé wanted to deny it, the time had finally come to prepare for the horrors the day would assuredly bring.

Naminé flew from his bed and put an end to the annoying alarm with a single slap before sighing, running her hands over her face.

The first day of school…

Not the first day of school for everyone; that would have been too easy. This event was today unique only to Naminé. For a week after the move, she cringed whenever she was reminded that now, a few months into her junior year of high school, she was…Naminé struggled to form the words in her head as she stared absentmindedly out the window of her second-floor bedroom. She let go of a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

_The new kid_.

Everyone hates the new kid. Naminé knew this. Everyone knew this. It was a fact of life. If the new kid is rich or good looking or cool…then there's a chance. But Naminé was none of those things; she came from a middle-class family and she was pretty in a plain way. But she was also had a hard time opening up to new people, it took her two months to even talk to her old friends in her freshmen year, but now she was starting all over again. She knew, deep down, this school was going to eat her alive.

_It's not going to be any different _she thought to herself as she gathered up her towel and clothes for the day, getting ready to take her shower. _It's high school, they're always the same._

Little did she know that the move was going to be the start of one of the most eventful years of her life.

* * *

**A/N: Eh, short beginning, but I didn't want to give too much away at the start of the story. Plus, I thought the idea of her being anxious over the start of changing schools in the middle of the school year would be a good start.**

**Sorry guys, I said that after I discontinued Rock N' Roll High School II I would be back soon with a new story idea…and that was over a year ago. *Insert epic fail here* XD. But I didn't lie, I've had this idea for a while and was going to put it up, but then I got so distracted with my other stories, but here it is finally. Uh, it brings in some of the ideas I had for Rock N' Roll high school that I wanted to develop some more (you guys will recognize it when it comes up). Other than that, I don't really have much to say.**

**I hope that you guys enjoy it, I'm willing to tweak the idea so any feedback/constructive criticism is fine and welcomed! Thanks!**

**Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	2. Chapter 1

**.:Chapter One:.**

* * *

There could be no more putting it off, no more escaping it. Naminé had little more than an hour to ready for her first day at Twilight High School, and if she was going to make it on time she couldn't sit around her room forever thinking about her first day.

After taking her shower and quickly getting dressed, Naminé, backpack in hand, came shuffling down the stairs, a light pout pulling at her pale pink lips. At the rounded kitchen table her mother, Mrs. Tanashi, sat in a pantsuit; a mug of coffee in her hand and a weary look on her face. She gazed up at her daughter with a smile.

"All ready for your big day, honey?" she asked her.

"As ready as I can be, I guess," Naminé replied quietly, shuffling her feet. She pulled at the blue and white plaid skirt that she had to wear, making a slight face. _Stupid uniforms._

Her mother looked at the clock on the wall, then back at her. "You're leaving so soon?"

Naminé sighed as she shuffled her feet, not sure how to reveal her thoughts without sounding like a little girl. "That's…uh…kinda the thing, Mom." She took the chair nearest her, hesitating momentarily before meeting her eyes. "Do you think you can drive me to school?"

Mrs. Tanashi's grin was genuine. "Oh, don't be silly, Naminé, it's in walking distance."

"I'm not being silly!" she protested. "It's just that it's my first day—and I really don't want to make too much of a fuss, walking there by myself and finding my way around by myself. Everyone will _hate_ me."

"Naminé!" Mrs. Tanashi laughed at her theatrics.

"_Hate me_, mom!"

"Oh," her mother countered teasingly. "And having your_ mother_ drop you off is going to score you points with the kids?"

"Mom…._please_?"

Mrs. Tanashi was silent for a few moments before looking at the small watch on her wrist. "Well, you know I have to be at work soon." She finally said. "So if we're going, we have to go about now."

"Thanks, Mom" Naminé smiled, as she stood up. "You're the best mom I've ever had."

"I better be, 'cause I'm the only one you're ever going to get." She paused. "Aren't you going to get breakfast?"

Naminé frowned, rubbing her stomach as she shook her head. "No," she replied with a sigh. "I'm too nervous to eat."

As they drove to the school, Naminé's nerves were shooting through the roof. Every second they got closer to the school was every second she got closer to the unpleasantness of being the new kid; everyone looking at her, sizing her up. Small shivers ran up her spine. Naminé never liked being the center of attention.

Mrs. Tanashi noticed her daughter's quiet distress and couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Naminé pouted, slouching low in her seat.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up…" she crossed her arms and stared out the window.

"Oh…," Mrs. Tanashi brushed her cheek. "I'm sorry, honey. I don't mean to make fun. It's just that I forget sometimes how young you still are." She smiled. "I remember when I was young and had to go to a new school. It really wasn't as bad as I made it out to be."

"Somehow I don't think you can really relate…"

"Fine," Mrs. Tanashi conceded. "I'll leave you alone then."

There was silence from then on until they reached the school grounds. Outside, students ranging from freshmen to seniors milled about, some on their way to class, others doing their best to avoid it. It was still early. School didn't actually start for another forty minutes, but Naminé had to come in early to get her class schedule, meet with the guidance counselor, and find her classrooms.

Mrs. Tanashi pulled up to the curb to let her out. But instead of moving to leave, she sat frozen, evaluating everything that she was about to get thrown into.

"Naminé," her mother called for the third time.

She snapped back into reality and looked at her. "Huh?"

"This is it, dear. Time to get out."

Naminé looked again at the frightening scene, then back at her mother. Then she looked back at the school once more, grabbed her backpack and sighed, getting out of the car. Naminé braced herself and started the seemingly long walk to the front doors of the school building.

"Uh…_goodbye, dear_. I love you!" Her mother said loud enough for a few passersby to stop what they were doing to look at Naminé. The young girl's face instantly turned red and quickened her pace to the building.

She entered the school and started to walk, very slowly, towards what she thought could be the direction of the guidance counselor's office. _They're usually by the front of the school, right? _Naminé asked herself as she peered into the doorway of one room.

No one was in there.

Frowning, Naminé turned on her heel and continued to look for the office. She gazed at the pictures, awards, and display cases as she went by. A display case with the word 'struggle' at the top caught her attention. She looked over the pictures, a slight smile on her face.

_So they play the game here as well. _She mused to herself. _They must be pretty good if they have all of these trophies for it. _She looked over a picture of the team roster, amusement flashing through her body when she saw that the guys on the team all shot smug smiles to the camera. _Obviously they win more than they lose._

"Fire!"

"Deep Freeze!"

Naminé's head whipped around at the sudden commotion and she watched, rooted with fear as a teenage boy with spikey blonde/brown hair and a teenage boy with spikey blonde hair shuffled down the hallway towards her. They were both holding onto to keyblades and they clashed against each other, the sound echoing down the hallway as they did so, the blonde was holding onto two key blades, and the other was doing his best of fighting him off with one.

"You better give up, Sora; you're not going to beat me." The blonde stated, narrowing his blue eyes as he spun and aimed another swipe of his black key blade at his opponent.

"We'll just see about that, Roxas," Sora replied as he blocked Roxas' attack, back peddling a few steps before charging towards him again.

Naminé could only watch as they continued to get closer and closer to her, it didn't seem like they had noticed her at all. She was definitely going to get hit.

"Don't just stand there!"

Naminé felt an arm grab onto her wrist and she was pulled backwards against the opposing wall as the boys continued down the hallway and out of sight. Naminé realized she had been holding her breath and let it go, turning to see who had helped her. She blinked as she looked into the blue eyes of a red haired girl looking back at her.

"Did you _want_ to get run over by them?" She asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "If you have a death wish, that's a good idea, but don't get in the way when Sora and Roxas are fighting."

_I guess that happens a lot then. _Naminé slowly nodded, keeping her lips pressed together. _She sure seems used to it. _"I'll have to remember that." She said quietly, turning on her heel.

"You're new here aren't you." The girl said it as a statement instead of a question. Naminé turned around, her cheeks starting to burn with embarrassment. "I haven't seen you around, and I think I would notice you if you sort of look like me." She chuckled a little. "Are you looking for the guidance counselor's office?" Naminé nodded. "I can show you where it is, it's on my way to class. Hey! Maybe we're in class together." She walked over until she reached Naminé's side and the two continued down the hallway. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Kairi."

"Naminé," The blonde girl gave a short smile.

"Well, Naminé, I can tell you that this school isn't like all of the others out there." Kairi said with a mysterious tone to her voice. "Things here are never boring. You'll either love it or hate it."

At this moment in time, Naminé wasn't sure which option she'd choose.

* * *

**A/N: **Chapters get longer after this one. I hope that you guys liked it. I'm basically mixing an element for the game (the keyblades and the magic from them) into the fic. It might be a bit confusing at points, but I'm working on it. Let me know what worked and what didn't work. I'm also thinking of changing the school to a boarding school, but I'm not sure, let me know what you think of that as well.

Constructive Criticism is welcome!

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Chapter 2

.:**Chapter Two:.**

* * *

Kairi dropped Naminé off at the guidance counselor's office, walking away before Naminé could even thank her.

"Must be in a rush to get to class," Naminé murmured as she entered the office, looking around. No one was in there, and she didn't have time to wait before she was going to be late, so Naminé started to look around to see where her schedule could be.

Noticing a stack of papers on the table that faced an empty chair, she inched forward and looked down, and saw that it was a set of schedules. She looked over her shoulder before quickly scrolling through the pile, finding her own schedule. She hitched her backpack up her shoulder and slipped out of the room, heading up the hallway once more. This time she made sure that no one was coming towards her with a keyblade.

"What's my first class?" Naminé murmured as she scanned her paper.

First period: English: Mrs. Agatha. Room 101.

From Naminé's perspective it was more like "Hagatha" and she knew as soon as the name popped into her head that it had to be the common nickname for the teacher. But how could she have cruel thoughts about a teacher she didn't even know? For all she _did _know, the woman was a nice, sweet old lady.

She certainly appeared harmless, sitting there at her desk in the corner of the room going over some type of papers. Not knowing exactly what to do, Naminé approached the woman and introduced himself.

"Ah," She said fixing her glasses and staring at a paper she pulled off her desk, "Miss. Takaishi." She looked her up and down. "The special girl."

"Special?" Naminé repeated, confused. She quickly convinced herself that it meant _new_ and nothing more. "And its, uh, Tanashi, ma'am."

Hagatha studied her paper closer. "It says 'Takaishi' here." She peered over her glasses at Naminé and Naminé felt her knees starting to shake under her gaze. She was never one that was great with confrontation, and as this was her new teacher, the person that she would have to see first thing every morning for the school year.

"Well," Naminé lowered her voice to almost a whisper as she shuffled her feet. "It's Tanashi, ma'am. They must have—"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Hagatha snapped, effectively cutting off the blonde girl.

Naminé's face paled as she let out an involuntary squeak, hiding her face behind her schedule, as if hiding behind someone taller than her. "N-no, ma'am." She stammered, her hands starting to shake. "I'm just saying—"

"Well Miss. Takaishi, the other students should start getting in any moment now." Hagatha gave her a dismissive glance and waved an arm behind her, motioning to the empty classroom. "Go ahead and have a seat wherever you like." Naminé nodded and moved towards the closest desk. "Except that one," Mrs. Agatha added. Naminé stopped and moved to a different location. "And that one."

Naminé paused and looked over all the desks, her stomach churning. She was genuinely afraid to pick the wrong desk again. But she had find a place to sit, and before anyone noticed and brought attention onto her. She quickly scanned the options again and decided on a desk off to the other side, saying, "Is this one okay?" Mrs. Agatha was looking down at her papers again and apparently hadn't heard her. She asked again, louder. "Mrs. Agatha, is this one okay?"

"Hm? What?" She looked up at her sharply.

"Is this desk okay?" Naminé asked quietly.

"Yes! I told you anywhere, remember?" She mumbled something to herself after that which Naminé chose not to listen to. Instead she sat down, glad to finally be planted somewhere where she wouldn't draw attention to herself.

Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

The first bell rang and her classmates filed into the room. There was nothing too remarkable about them, of course. Nothing too different from the millions of other faces Naminé had seen in his sixteen years of life. She tried to keep her head down and his gaze lowered as, one by one, they all spied the mysterious newcomer to the class. Naminé couldn't wait 'til it was over. But first she had to get through this first day. And even before that, this first class.

She lifted her head and spotted Kairi sitting down at a desk across the room. Kairi must have noticed, for she turned and faced Naminé giving her a bright smile, before it melted into a confused look. But her attention was taken away as Sora dropped into the seat in front of her. He didn't look like he had just been fighting someone. In fact, it looked like he hadn't seen anyone all morning, but the bright smile on his face as he turned to talk to Kairi said otherwise.

From out of nowhere came a voice to her right. She turned to see Roxas standing above her, looking annoyed and curious at the same time.

"Uh, yes?" Naminé asked him, instantly feeling like an idiot.

"What? Are you deaf? I said you're sitting in my seat!" Roxas said to her. Naminé could tell just from the first glance that this was one of the school's real trouble makers. And it wasn't just from the fact that he had just been fighting Sora earlier, but it was part of the vibe he was putting out. If he could use a keyblade, he was definitely someone she would have to watch out for in the future.

"Oh…but," Naminé's voice lowered to a whisper once more. "Mrs. Agatha said I could sit anywhere I wanted."

"Yeah. Anywhere except _my seat_." Roxas shot back.

Frustration swelled up inside Naminé for a moment, but she instantly quashed it. She was already tired of this boy's attitude. Couldn't he see that she was the new student there? _Doesn't he have any manners? This wasn't quite the welcome that I was expecting. _Naminé instead gave Roxas a small, disarming smile, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Oh, sorry." She said sweetly. "My mistake."

She quickly got up, grabbed her backpack and moved to another vacant desk she hoped to _God _didn't belong to anyone else. As she finally came to rest, she innocently caught eyes with a girl with short black hair and blue eyes. "What the hell are you looking at?" she snapped.

Naminé just lowered her head and hoped she would leave her alone. As far as she was concerned, this was the single worst day of her life. And she had had more than a few bad days. With any real luck, once class started she would just sink into obscurity and everything would go smoothly for the rest of the hour. Of course she then had six other classes to go to. A hundred students, just in classes, staring at her, judging her, hating her. And it wasn't like tomorrow, or even the next week, was going to be much easier. It was almost enough to give Naminé a panic attack.

Finally, Mrs. Agatha started to take attendance and Naminé had a chance to fleetingly learn the names of her fellow students. The girl that had snapped at her was Xion, the silver-haired boy that was next to Sora was Riku and Kairi of course, and there was Roxas… Naminé sat up when she realized that her name wasn't called on the list.

Something was up.

_Stop it_, Naminé clenched her hands into fists on the table top, _she already knows I'm here so that's why she didn't call my name. Duh. Yeah…right?_

And then it happened.

"Ok class, as I'm sure you all noticed we have a new student in the school. I want you all to do whatever you can to make her feel comfortable in her new home and show him the Twilight High spirit!"

_Oh God…kill me now…_Naminé placed her hands over her face.

"But first, I think Miss. Takaishi should come up in front of the class and tell everyone about herself." Naminé looked up at Mrs. Agataha and she could swear that she saw the devilish gleam in her eyes. It was like she knew that Naminé didn't like to be the center of attention and was doing this just to get on her nerves.

Well, it was working.

Behind her Naminé heard the quiet laugher and it was almost enough to make her forget what she had just announced. Here he was, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and she was making her get up in front of the class and talk about herself!

If there was ever a good time for a meteor to hit the Earth, it was now.

"Naminé?" She called.

With a sheepish smile and a nervous half smile which disappeared in a second, Naminé got up from her desk and headed up to the front of the class. She looked at everyone, feeling her cheeks grow hot. She knew she was blushing. She then looked over at Mrs. Agatha, hoping that she could see the pleading in her eyes to sit back down.

No such luck.

"Go ahead, Miss. Takaishi, tell the class about yourself."

Naminé wrung her hands together, wiping the sweat off onto her skirt. "Um…well…my last name is actually Tanashi. And…well, I just moved here a week ago and um…I'm not sure what to say…"

"_You suck_." Someone coughed in the back, scoring laughs from his buddies. Naminé looked at him and spotted a boy that had red hair sticking up all over the place. His green eyes locked with hers and he gave her a challenging look as he smirked.

"Axel, I'll see you after class," Agatha replied. She then turned to Naminé again, saying, "Go on Miss. Takaishi."

"It's…never mind," Naminé mumbled. If she wasn't going to get it now, why bother trying to continuously correct her. "Um…uh…I moved here with my mom and dad when he got a new job…" She could see no one really cared and felt even more stupid for talking. She trailed off. "And, um…that's it, I guess."

Naminé made a move for her seat, glad that her little introduction was finally over, quickly she made for the safety of her desk, happy as everyone lost interest in her and Mrs. Agatha began her lecture. Her eyes unintentionally met those of the Xion's once again.

"Freak."

Naminé put her hands over her face and tried to shut out the world. With everything that she had experienced in life, so far nothing had come close to the horror of her first day at Twilight High.

And she still had five more classes today….

* * *

**A/N: **Even though Xion is never really seen as someone that is bad/a mean person, I thought that it would fit here. I wasn't sure what to name the teacher, and I wanted her to have something that the students could make fun of, so that's what I came up with. Not my best job, but besides that, I think he chapter turned out well. What did you guys think? Constructive Criticism is welcome.

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	4. Chapter 3

**.:Chapter Three:.**

* * *

_Bang!_

Naminé's head hit the door of her locker and she rested it there for a few seconds, letting out a sigh of annoyance as she did so. Naminé was exhausted and it was still only her first day of school. So far she had been tormented by that Xion girl in almost every class she went to. Everywhere Naminé looked, even if she was merely glancing at a classmate that moved to stretch, Xion would turn and stare at her or glare at her. She didn't even do anything wrong, she just went to class on her first day, and she already made an enemy.

Naminé placed her hands over her face. Now she had to go through the rest of the school day on little patience. With another sigh, Naminé grabbed the lock on her locker and racked her brain for the right numbers. She had gotten the combination earlier that morning and for the life of her, Naminé couldn't remember it. 24-26-16, Naminé knew that but the lock always seemed to forget it.

Or was she forgetting the combination?

As she tried the combination for the seventh time in the last few minutes, she started to become frustrated.

At her old school Naminé had her own lock: a key-lock. No need for annoying combinations…provided she had the key, which Naminé always did. But here at Twilight High these busted locks were mandatory. So, like so many other things, Naminé was just going to have to deal with it and adapt…whether she liked it or not.

Maybe no one would notice if she just didn't use the lock at all. It's not like she needed it anyway. No one cared enough to steal any of her stuff.

"Damn school," Naminé mumbled under her breath.

"What's that?" a masculine voice beside her asked.

Naminé was startled at the sound. She turned to see a silver haired boy standing next to her, his locker door open and looking at her curiously.

Reflexively Naminé looked down at her feet, her voice dropping to almost a whipser, "Oh, it's just these locks. It's not really working for me." She turned back to her lock and tried it again, cursing herself when it continued to stay stuck.

"I've never had a problem with them," the boy all but grunted as he opened his own locker with ease.

Naminé smiled. "Well, uh, anyway…" Naminé started to say.

The boy turned his attention back to her once more. "Oh, did you say something?"

"Me? No…Not really."

"Ok," the boy closed his locker and put the lock back onto it, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "My class is on the other side of the building."

"I guess…I'll see you around," Naminé nodded, briefly glancing at his locker next to her. "See you around...?"

"I'm Riku," The boy gave a short wave with his hand. "Later…" he paused.

"Naminé." She supplied quickly.

"Later, Naminé."

As Riku walked away, Naminé noticed that she was going to be late for class if she didn't get going. She turned around and went back to trying to open her locker. With her mind completely awake now, Naminé suddenly realized she was off by one number. Quickly swinging open the locker, she came to the annoying conclusion that she didn't need anything from her locker.

"Swear to God, that's the last time I'm changing schools," Naminé mumbled. She slammed the door shut and replaced the lock before hurrying off to her class.

* * *

Glancing around nervously, Naminé quietly made her way through the school halls. Her hair continuously fell into her face and she kept pushing it back behind her ears. Everywhere she went, students stopped and turned to look at her. She was used to the stares; it happened every time the school year started and there was a new student. She had even done it to herself, but after getting close with her old friends, she tried to make the new kid comfortable. Now here, no one was trying to make things better for her.

_That's not entirely true, Naminé, _she corrected herself. _Kairi showed you around, a little bit, and she seemed genuinely nice._ Naminé kept her face down as he headed towards the front of the school. It was lunch time, but she felt too shy to eat in the cafeteria. She didn't want to humiliate herself by trying to find a seat and being rejected by people that just wanted to see what she would do. Instead, she decided that she would just sit in the courtyard and start on some of her homework.

Stepping outside, she looked around for a place to sit down before deciding just to sit on the front steps, setting down her bag. Raising her face, Naminé let out one more sigh. She had been doing that a lot that day, and she wasn't sure if it was going to end any time soon. She had made it through her first few classes.

A couple more and she could go home.

Quiet laughter and the soft sound of talking made her snap out of her thoughts. Looking forward, Lain immediately lowered her head again. It was Sora, Kairi, and some of their friends. They were sitting on the ground in a group, talking and laughing loudly with each other. Sora was lying on his back, his arms behind his head, Kairi was sitting at his side, her legs drawn to her side, and then there were a few other people she didn't recognize. A girl with brown hair and bright green eyes, a boy with blonde/brown hair and a friendly smile, a tall boy with dark brown hair was leaning a on a tree next to them, and a short girl with black hair was waving her arms around as she told a story.

Naminé sighed wistfully. She wanted to go over there to talk to them, to try and make friends with them, but she couldn't handle the thought of them laughing at her. Or just sitting there and staring at her as if she was nothing. No, it was better if she just stayed where she was and waited for someone to go and talk to her. It was safer that way, plus she wouldn't have to make a fool of herself.

"Watch out!"

Naminé looked up and scrambled aside as a set of keyblades went flying towards her. They hit the concrete steps where she was sitting and bounced along them until they hit the ground. Naminé put her books aside and stood up, slowly walking down the stairs to retrieve them. She tried to pick them up, but they were too heavy for her to even move an inch. So, she bent down and inspected them, thinking that they might have a name or something on them that would tell her whose they were. They were a bit familiar….

"Oh, I think these are Roxas'," she murmured to herself looking them over. She recognized the keychains easily, having seen them around in magazines and store front windows. Oathkeeper and Oblivion, they were some of the best keyblades that were ever created and replicas of them were made daily. "They're pretty good."

"What are you doing?"

Naminé looked up and scrambled backwards, seeing Roxas standing over her, his arms crossed over his chest; his backpack dangling off of one shoulder. His eyebrows were raised as he looked at her, following her with his eyes as she slowly stood up. Naminé wrung her hands together, keeping her eyes off of Roxas. She noticed that Sora, Kairi, and the others had turned their attention to her and was watching her quietly.

That just caused her heart to start beating even faster, she couldn't stand having a lot of attention on her, and now it was making everything worse.

"I…your…your keyblades fell to the ground and I…was just wondering whose they were…" Naminé stammered as Roxas bent down and picked them up. She felt a bit annoyed when she noticed how easily he was able to hold onto them, as if they were as light as a feather. She blinked as they disappeared with a flash of light, and looked up at Roxas once more.

He smirked back at her.

"Yeah, they're mine." Roxas said, his smirk growing a bit wider. "Have you ever seen Keyblades before?" He asked. His eyes sparkled, like he was silently laughing at her.

"Yes," she replied slowly. Naminé turned and walked back up the steps to her stuff. "If you'll excuse me," she sat down and put her notebook on her lap before she reached into her backpack to take out her lunch bag. Already engrossed in her English homework, she didn't notice that Roxas was still around until he stood, hovering next to her. She tilted her head back and looked at him, squinting her eyes a bit as the sun was in her face. "Yes?"

"Is this seat taken?" Roxas motioned to the spot next to her.

Naminé shook her head slowly. _I don't get it, _she thought to herself as Roxas continued to stand above her, waiting for her response. _He __wants__ to sit with me? Does he not get that I'm the new kid here? Or is he playing some sort of trick on me?_

Roxas must have been able to read her thoughts, for he held out his hands and turned them this way and that, showing her that he didn't have anything in his hands. He raised his eyebrows once more and his smirk turned into a small, disarming smile.

Naminé's eyes narrowed a little bit. "N-No, not at all.." She shifted quickly back to her book.

With a knowing smirk, Roxas sat down next to her, lounging nonchalantly with his arms behind his head, stretching his feet out in front of him. "So, you're Naminé right?"

Attempting and almost succeeding to sound just as nonchalant, Naminé glanced up timidly. "Yes. I'm Naminé Tanashi."

"Nice to meet ya," Roxas reached out a hand, as if to greet her formally. "I'm Roxas Hokkaido."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter was kind of short as well. I don't get why they keep turning out so short when, in my head, they're longer than this. But oh well, I guess it's because the scenes don't need to be drawn out as long as I originally thought. The story picks up with the next one, and things will go on from there, getting to the point of the story. Thanks for those that have read and reviewed so far, I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Chapter 4

**.:Chapter Four:.**

* * *

Naminé sighed as she walked up the steps of her house, running her hand through her hair. Dragging her backpack on the ground, she opened the front door to her house and slowly went inside, expecting to get bombarded with questions about her first day of school.

But it was quiet.

Turning around and looking out the door, Naminé noticed that there were no cars in the driveway and she let out a relieved sigh. At least she would be able to get away from the questions about her day. It wasn't that bad, she reasoned to herself as she went up to her room. She met some people; no one that she would say was her friend yet, but it seemed like things were getting better.

She shook her head as she thought about Xion. She hadn't done anything at all to the black haired girl, and as soon as she stepped into the room for her first class, she was labeled a freak and had been tormented by her in all of her classes. She could hear Xion whispering about her in every one of the classes that they were in together. She could feel the stares as well and she could see the pointing…

It didn't help that she had talked to Roxas either. Sure, she was glad that people were actually trying to get to know her, but it seemed that Roxas was one of the most popular people in school, as even more girls were now openly glaring at her.

_Roxas must have been able to read her thoughts for he held out his hands and turned them this way and that, showing her that he didn't have anything in his hands. He raised his eyebrows once more and his smirk turned into a small, disarming smile._

_Naminé's eyes narrowed a little bit. "N-No, not at all..." She shifted quickly back to her book._

_With a knowing smirk, Roxas sat down next to her, lounging nonchalantly with his arms behind his head, stretching his feet out in front of him. "So, you're Naminé right?"_

_Attempting and almost succeeding to sound just as nonchalant, Naminé glanced up timidly. "Yes. I'm Naminé Tanashi."_

_"Nice to meet ya," Roxas reached out a hand, as if to greet her formally. "I'm Roxas Hokkaido." He shook her hand firmly before leaning back against the steps. "So, you're new here, everyone knows that. Where are you living now?"_

"_I live in that large house at the edge of Twilight Town…" Naminé replied, pulling her hair behind her ears. She kept her gaze on her hands. "You know, the white one with the-"_

"_Oh, Castle Oblivion." Roxas nodded. He noticed her panic-stricken expression and laughed. "Don't worry; it's just what the teenagers around here nicknamed it. It's been called that forever, I don't know when it started." He shook his head. "It's one of the bigger houses in Twilight Town and kind of resembles a Castle so…"_

"_What's…the oblivion part?" Naminé asked._

"_I don't know, really." Roxas shrugged. "It just fits." He placed his hands behind his head. "Twilight Town is cool, I live there too. People from this school are either from Twilight Town, Traverse Town, or Destiny Islands. You can usually tell just by looking at them, and from the way they act. The ones from Destiny Islands are more laid-back, Traverse Town are kinda…snobby, and then Twilight Town you have a mixture of both."_

_Naminé nodded quietly, bringing her sandwich up to her mouth and taking a bite. She looked out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Roxas was still sitting next to her on the steps, not eating anything. Feeling a bit awkward, she ripped her sandwich in half and held it out to him, silently offering him the piece._

"_No, its fine, I buy my lunch." Roxas waved the offer away. He sat up and looked across the front lawn, his eyes narrowing as he spotted Sora, Kairi, and their group on the front lawn. Out of the corner of her eye, Naminé could see him stiffen slightly, his jaw tightening. "If you want to get along with people here," he said after a moment. "You're going to want to be sure who your friends are."_

"_What do you mean?" Naminé asked, her blonde brows furrowing together._

"_Just…choose your friends wisely."_

Naminé shook her head as she entered her room and tossed her backpack to the ground. She was itching to get out of her uniform and into more comfortable clothes so she could get over the first day of school. The second day couldn't be any worse than this one; she had learned that before, she just wanted this day to be completely over.

She heard her cell phone ring from deep inside her backpack and raced over to grab it. After digging through the bottom for a few moments, she pulled out her white phone and put it up to her ear as she answered it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Stay away from Roxas." A voice replied harshly.

"Excuse me?" Naminé blinked once, pulling her phone from her ear. The number was blocked, so she couldn't be able to tell who it was even if she tried. She put her phone back to her ear. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me. Stay. Away. From Roxas."

"Who…who is this?"

"Stay away."

Naminé looked at her phone as the line went dead. She rubbed her forehead, letting out a soft groan. If she didn't change schools, she wouldn't have to have this problem.

_I wonder how old I have to be to legally drop out of school? _Naminé thought to herself warily.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry this update took a while to get done and sorry it's short again. School. Finals. You know. Anyway, I'll update again soon. Thanks for your guys' support. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the story. I PROMISE, PROMISE, PROMISE, THE NEXT ONE WILL BE LOGNER. IF IT'S NOT, FEEL FREE TO HARASS ME!

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Naminé hooked her backpack over her shoulders and adjusted her skirt, making sure that it was smoothed out, before leaving her room. She was going to have to walk to school now that she had gone through her first day. It didn't seem to matter how inconspicuous she tried to be, things just weren't going her way. Last night she had been called two more times to be warned against Roxas, and when her phone rang the third time, she just turned it off.

She couldn't understand who it was or why the person would care enough for her to stay away from him, and she just chalked it all up to a prank. Mess with the new kid and get a few good laughs. She knew how it went.

Naminé headed into the kitchen and dropped her backpack into her chair at the kitchen table before going into the kitchen to make her lunch as well as to grab some breakfast. "Huh, I never realized how much I would miss it when mom didn't have to go to work so early." She mused to herself as she looked through the refrigerator for something to eat. Looking at her watch and noticing that she didn't have much time left to get to school, she just grabbed a Pop Tart for her breakfast and decided that she would pay for her lunch that afternoon.

Ripping the foil open with her teeth, Naminé grabbed her backpack and her key and flew out the front door. She locked the door behind her and started the walk to Twilight High. It was the only chance that she got to look around the neighborhood. Much like the rest of the city, Twilight Town seemed to be covered in a sunset-esque glow. Unless it was nighttime, the city was covered in a golden hue and it just made everything look even prettier to Naminé. If she wasn't sure about the move, she could at least get used to the view and the tone to the city.

Naminé dug around in her backpack for her mp3 player and stuck the ear buds into her room, turning up the volume as she went. But the volume was turned up so loud that she didn't hear someone calling for her attention. All of a sudden, her feet were knocked out from underneath her and she went falling to the ground. Naminé rubbed the back of her head as she looked up to see Roxas kneeling on the ground beside her. But was looking at his skateboard, as if inspecting it for damage.

_What's he doing here? _Naminé shook her head before checking her arms and legs for any cuts and bruises. Nothing, but she knew that her knees were going to hurt for a while.

"Are you ok?" Roxas asked as he finally turned to her, standing up as he held out his hand. "I lost control…I tried to get your attention, but I don't think you heard me." He added, motioning to her ear buds, which had popped out of her ears at the force of impact.

"Obviously," Naminé replied as she rubbed her knees.

"Not that I'm one to knock the choice of wearing pink underwear," Roxas said a second later. "But you might want to close your legs."

Naminé looked down and blushed before scrambling to her feet, pulling down the bottom of her skirt. She avoided Roxas' smug look as she bent down, knees together, to grab her backpack. She scooped it up into her arms and put it onto her back. It was then that she noticed that Roxas had someone with him. His green eyes flashed with amusement as he raised his hands and slowly started clapping at the two of them.

"What a great show," he called teasingly. "Probably made my morning, thank you so much."

Roxas finally lowered his arm as he turned and motioned to the boy. "This guy over here is my friend, Axel," Roxas introduced him. "Axel this is Naminé."

"Oh, you're that new junior," Axel said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He raised an eyebrow as he slowly smiled. "I've heard a lot about you, Naminé. I heard, in fact, that you're pretty special."

_Special? _Naminé's eyebrows lowered as Roxas elbowed him in the side. _Miss Agatha said the same thing. Why does everyone call me special? _She stayed silent as Axel shrugged carelessly, obviously not caring about the glare that Roxas was sending his way. "It's…nice to meet you Axel." She replied quietly.

"We were on our way to school," Roxas turned back to the blonde girl. "And as an apology for knocking you down, how about we walk with you?" He tucked his skateboard under his arm and turned on his heel as he and Axel started to walk away, not waiting for her answer.

Naminé picked up the pace and started to walk with them, slightly noticing that the two of them made space so that they were walking on either side of them, like they were her bodyguards or something. Naminé tapped her fingers on the straps of her backpack as they walked along in silence. She never liked silence, but she was never one of those people that would try to break the silence because everyone would stare at her or laugh at whatever she said. She glanced at Axel out of the corner of her eye. He seemed very laid-back but the way that he carried himself showed Naminé that there was more than meets the eye with him. With his bright red hair that contrasted his shockingly green eyes, she wondered how he could be such good friends with Roxas, who seemed to be his polar opposite.

"Staring is rude, you know." Axel commented as he slid his green eyes over to Naminé.

"Sorry," she squeaked, turning her gaze to the ground, feeling her cheeks heat up.

"You blush a lot, you know that?" Roxas commented. "Like, almost every time someone talks to you or brings attention to you, you blush like crazy." He pointed his index finger at her. "Like that, when you were introduced to the class yesterday you blushed like crazy."

"Leave her alone, Roxas." Axel warned the younger boy. "Don't forget, you have to listen to what I say."

"He's a senior," Roxas told Naminé as he rolled his eyes. "And he thinks that just because he's older that us juniors have to listen to him."

"Hey, it's the law of high school, every grade has to listen to the grade that's above them," he was speaking to Naminé more than Roxas now. "It's the way things work. Got it memorized?"

Naminé nodded slowly. It made sense; seniority ran rampant at her old school. She couldn't even say how many times the girls in the grade above her would bully her and her friends, but they couldn't do anything about it. The teachers trusted the word of those that were older.

_Besides, they never liked to believe that something as bad as bullying would be going on at that school. _Naminé rolled her eyes slightly. She looked up as they passed a storefront. The owner, who was sweeping in the doorway, gave her a warm smile, but when he spotted Axel and Roxas, his smile faded and his eyes hardened.

Roxas looked back at the man and smirked before gave a two-fingered salute, chuckling to himself as the store owner disappeared back inside faster than Naminé could blink. Naminé twisted her mouth to the side; she wondered what was wrong with the man, as he looked like he was very angry at Axel and Roxas. But the two boys didn't seem to be paying any attention to it in the slightest.

_Almost as if they were used to it. _Naminé realized.

"I bet she's wondering what that was about," Axel spoke up so suddenly that Naminé jumped. "I think we should tell her, Roxas, if she's going to be going to Twilight High, then she's going to have to know about this."

"No," Roxas said sharply, twisting his head to the side. His eyes flashed as he turned to completely face his friend. Despite the obvious height difference between the two, Roxas didn't look like he was going to be backing down from Axel. "She's not going to get into this," he looked at Naminé without turning his head. "Not yet, anyway. She just got here, everyone knows that the new kid has to get situated before anyone can doing anything with them."

"Does this have to do with Sora?" Naminé blurted out before she could stop herself. Axel blinked once before slowly turning to face Naminé. Roxas looked completely surprised, as if he didn't expect her to say anything at all. "I mean, it's just," Naminé stammered a bit. "I met Kairi yesterday and she said something about not getting in the way of you two when you were fighting." Roxas continued to stare at her. "You almost hit me when you guys were fighting with your keyblades." Naminé explained. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she started to twist the tip of her shoe into the ground while tucking her hair behind her ears. "And Kairi said not to get in your guys' way when you're fighting, and just yesterday you almost hit me with your Keyblade again, when it was lunchtime."

Roxas stayed silent as he looked over at Axel. Now Axel looked a bit concerned, he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up and down the street. No one was coming, but he looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin at any moment. Roxas, on the other hand, looked calm and collected.

"All that you need to know about Sora, and his group of friends, is that you can't trust them." Roxas replied quietly. "They're not the kind of people that you want to hang out with."

"They seem pretty nice to me," Naminé replied, her voice laced with intense confusion. "I mean, Kairi showed me around yesterday, she made me feel welcome."

"That's the idea," Roxas insisted, his eyes burning into hers. "They make you feel welcome, like you're their friend or something, but then they go and stab you in the back. It doesn't help much that they're part of Destiny Shooters," he added under his breath as he turned to keep walking.

"Roxas, if you're going to tell her what their name is, you might as well tell her ours," Axel chided his friend. "I mean, what kind of a friend would you be if you kept that important information from her." He challenged Roxas with a hard stare.

_Friend? _Naminé looked back and forth between the two boys. "Look, I didn't want to start any trouble." She waved her hands in the air. "I was just asking a question. I'll drop it."

"You can't leave her in the dark _now_," Axel continued, as if he didn't hear Roxas at all.

"Axel, shut the fuck up!" Roxas snapped, his blue eyes flashing. "She said she'd drop it and that's that!" He turned his glare to Naminé, the intensity of the glare causing her to take a step back. "Let's go to school."

* * *

Naminé felt even more eyes on her as she walked onto the front lawn of the school with Roxas and Axel. It seemed that everyone knew who she was at that moment in time and she wanted to do nothing but disappear. Roxas and Axel veered away from the blonde girl and she just went inside the school to get to her locker and get to class early. It wasn't like anyone was jumping at the chance to talk to her anyway. She couldn't get Roxas' glare out of her head.

_If he was that upset about Sora, then something really big must have happened between the two of them. _Naminé thought to herself as she opened her locker and started to switch out some of her books to her backpack. _I wonder what happened. _

"_Just…choose your friends wisely."_

If he was warning her against them, then everyone must know what happened. So of course she was left out, she was the new kid, and she wasn't supposed to be told all of the secrets of the school the first few days that she was there. She was supposed to work hard, to prove that she was one of them and that she was worthy of their attention.

But was it really worth it?

Naminé closed and locked her locker and went off to her first class, slightly dreading it. If she didn't know any better, she was sure that she was going to be called on a lot by Miss. Agatha, she was sure that there was something about her that the old woman didn't like. Naminé kept her head down as she walked into the room, trying to stay invisible.

But that didn't work, for Kairi had immediately appeared at her side, getting her attention. "Hey," Kairi grabbed onto Naminé's elbow, dragging her away from the others as the classroom started to fill up with students.

"Oh," Naminé smiled. "Hey Kairi."

"Are you doing anything after school?" Kairi asked. Well, she more like demanded it. Naminé felt confused as she looked at the serious look on Kairi's face. Whatever it was that she wanted to tell her, Naminé could see that it was very important. "I need to talk to you."

"No," Naminé shook her head. "I'm not doing anything-"

"Good," Kairi interrupted. "I'll meet you at the front steps as soon as school lets out, don't be late." Kairi let go of Naminé's elbow and moved back to her seat across the room. As she sat down, Sora leaned over and asked her something, Kairi shook her head, said something back, and busied herself with her backpack.

Naminé watched her for a few moments before turning around and sitting down in her seat. Feeling eyes on her, Naminé looked around. She locked eyes with Roxas and gave a small smile. But he didn't smile back; he frowned, turned away, and busied himself as he doodled in his notebook.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a girl with brown hair and bright green eyes sitting behind her. Naminé recognized her as one of the girls that was with Sora and his friends the day before. "Hi, I'm Selphie," she greeted cheerfully. "You're the new kid…Naminé." She didn't even let Naminé nod or blink to acknowledge that it was true. "You came to school with Roxas this morning." She added. "You're so lucky, he's, like, the hottest guy in school, besides Sora." She leaned forward and placed her hand by her mouth so no one could hear her. "He's a real bad boy though, but a real babe, I'd be careful if I was going to go after him." She winked. "But it'd be so worth it."

Naminé turned back to face the front, letting out a soft sigh as she rested her face in her hands.

What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

**A/N: **Finally got a longer chapter for you guys. The story is moving a bit slowly, but it'll pick up soon. Now that it's summer, I should be able to update this story quicker. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Oh and for the gang name so far; I'm not entirely happy with the one I came up with, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know and if I like it enough, I'll use them. (I'll credit you of course). I'm looking for one that incorporates Twilight into it as well. Constructive Criticism is welcome!

Thanks and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

* * *

_Roxas stared down sadly at the photo, a tattered remnant of times gone by. His mother smiled up at him, her face torn and bent, the image distorted from years of abuse. It was an old photo, nearing five years. Sitting down on the slightly moist green grass, he moved his eyes from the picture to the water of the steam he was sitting by. They had always come here, to talk and play. She had even taught him how to swim here, something that amazed him being as she herself couldn't. _

_Let go of the past… Standing up, he walked closer to the edge of the stream, staring down at his reflection in the water. The past five years had taken their toll on him, five years of guilt, anguish, sleepless nights, and days without eating. He couldn't continue to go on like this. This wouldn't be what his mother wanted._

_Holding out the picture, he closed his eyes. He had to let go of the past. Opening his eyes again he dropped the picture, watching as it hit the surface of the water and floated away downstream, disappearing. Turning around he smiled, feeling as if a sudden weight had been lifted from his chest. That was what his mother would have wanted. That would make her happy…_

"Roxas!"

Roxas shot awake, lifting his head from his arms. He sat up and he wiped drool off of his chin, looking up to see Xion standing beside him, holding her books against her thighs. She gave him a worried glance as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Class is over, everyone's leaving." She said to answer his unasked questions. Roxas looked around to see his classmates leaving the room, laughing and talking to each other loudly as they went off to their next class. Roxas looked over at Naminé as she slid her books into her backpack and quietly left the room. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," Roxas nodded, pushing the hood of his jacket off of his head as he stood up. He grabbed his books and tossed them haphazardly into his backpack before slinging it over his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm coming. Let's go."

Xion smiled at him and led the way out of the room. Roxas followed her, keeping his head down. Once he stepped out of the classroom, he looked down the hall as Kairi caught up with Naminé and started to talk to her about something.

He frowned for a moment before turning and following Xion to their lockers.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait for the short chapter. So Naminé is already starting to be pulled away in two different directions. What do you think is going to happen? What do you _want_ to happen? I wanted to do a quick chapter with Roxas before going back to Naminé. Then the story will go back and forth with chapters focused on either one. I hope you guys liked it. I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

_First Roxas tells me to be careful of who I hang out with, then Selphie practically tells me that it's a __good thing__ to hang out with the resident 'bad boy' of the school, now Kairi is warning me of who I should hang out with. _Naminé shook her head in frustration as she clutched her purse in her hands. _This is already starting to go out of control and I've only been at this school for two days!_

Naminé sighed and waited patiently for the light to tell her that she could safely cross the street. She looked around as she waited. After school, Kairi had stopped her by her locker and had given her the same sort of warning that Roxas had as well as the person that had called her.

Choose your friends wisely and stay away from the other group.

But Selphie had basically said that things would be worth it just to go out with Roxas, furtherer solidifying that he was the 'top dog' around the school apart from Sora. Just by watching, Naminé could tell that the two boys were the ones that everyone was afraid of getting on the bad side of. Girls fell over themselves just to talk to them and they hated the girls that they _did _hang out with! It was the same at every school, but instead of there being one guy, there were two, who used to be best friends.

_I wonder what happened between the two of them? _Naminé let out a light breath of confusion. _What could have them go from best friends to worst enemies? _She turned and looked around at the people that were walking around her.

Everyone that passed her on the sidewalk seemed to be really happy and carefree. If she had to guess, from what Roxas told her at least, they were either from Twilight Town or Destiny Islands. There were a few people that went by that looked kind of snooty that she could tell were from Traverse Town. Looking over a map in her computer class, Traverse Town and Twilight Town were only a few miles away from each other, and Destiny Islands was only a ferry ride away, so they were all really close. It explained the way that people would look at each other, silently judging each other as they went by.

_What could have caused everyone from around here to start judging each other like this? _Naminé hitched her purse up her shoulder as the light changed and she safely crossed the street. She closed her eyes and breathed in gently as the salty air from the wharf blew up into the city. _I bet things would be much nicer around here if they didn't have so many social stigmas like they do at school._

Naminé opened her eyes and continued aimlessly across the street, looking at her map as she did so. She needed to figure out her way around the city as well as try to find a job, so why not to kill two birds with one stone?

She passed an ice cream place that seemed to be famous for a peculiar flavor of ice cream, a mall, numerous shopping stores, a place that sold potions, ethers, and keychains, and a bunch of other stores that she had never seen being sold in her old hometown. She visited each and every one, to see if they were hiring and while some were, they didn't seem to be looking for someone to hire, or she would get too intimidated and back out of the store before they could even ask her what she needed.

She was slowly starting to give up hope until she spotted a set of keyblades sitting in the front window of a store. She walked over to the window and peered down at them, studying each of them and how they were all different and the way that they were each intricately designed. Possibly all done by hand.

Naminé straightened herself as she continued to look over them, thinking about the two that Roxas had and the one that Sora had.

Naminé set her mouth in a line of determination and moved over to the doorway of the store before grabbing the handle and pushing it open. A little bell above the door jingled as she walked inside, alerting an older man from to come out of the back room.

"Yes?" He asked as he rested his arms on the counter. "How may I help you, miss?"

Naminé bit her lower lip as she looked around the room, then noticing a set of stairs that led up to the second floor of the shop. She tilted her head to the side as she looked around, smiling a little when she noticed a small boy about 10 years old peering around the side of the counter, giving her a small, shy smile.

The man noticed and followed her gaze, smiling as well. "Oh, that's my son, Pinocchio," he explained and waved a hand, motioning for the boy to come out from behind the counter. "I'm sorry about that, he's very shy. But a good worker around the shop, he helps me after school if he's not too busy with friends." He waited until the boy was by his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Pinocchio, this is, erm…" The man trailed off, realizing he didn't know her name.

"I'm Naminé," she finally spoke up, giving a warm smile. She held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Lovely name," The man took her hand and shook it gently yet firmly. "Naminé." He repeated and smiled once more. "My name is Gepetto."

"Hi Naminé," Pinocchio greeted shyly, with a small wave of his hand. "I'm going to go finish sweepoing, father." He looked up at Gepetto and smiled once more before picking up his broom and moving across the room to start sweeping once more.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Naminé?" Gepetto asked, resting his hands behind his back as he gazed at her patiently. "I couldn't help but notice you looking over the keyblades over there," he tilted his head towards the display case. "Do you know the history behind the keyblade?"

Naminé shook her head.

"Legend has it that years ago there was an area called the Keyblade Graveyard, where the keyblades of the Keyblade Wielders after the Keyblade War between the battle of Light and Darkness remain." He looked back over at Naminé and noticed that she was listening intently. "The only way that someone can wield a keyblade is with a trial in which a Keyblade wielder on the level of a Master chooses a person to inherit the power to wield the Keyblade. If the Keyblade accepts the inheritor selected, that person will become able to summon their own Keyblade whenever attempted." He shrugged. "That's one way to do it."

Naminé thought about Roxas and Sora, her eyebrows lowering in confusion. _Is that how it all works? Are Roxas and Sora representing a new fight between Darkness and Light? _She turned back to the old man. "What's the other way?"

"Someone with a the right heart…" he paused for a moment, thinking. "If they touch a keyblade, they can wield it as well. They can inherit it. Typically the keyblades are passed down, but nowadays, with the gang violence that been going on…" He turned away, heading back behind the counter. "But I'm sure that's not why you came in here today? To listen to one of my old tales?"

Naminé smiled gently as she walked over to the counter. "I was looking for a job, actually." She replied sheepishly. "I wasn't sure if you were hiring…" she trailed off as Gepetto rubbed his chin.

"Well, do you know much about Keyblades or Gummis?" He asked.

"Gummis?" Naminé repeated. She slowly shook her head. "No, not really."

"Gummis are the material that we make our vehicles out of," Gepetto quickly explained. "They're used mostly for vehicles that fly, I make the blueprints if people want them customized, and Cid," he pointed towards the ceiling. "He works upstairs, he puts them all together. We work with Gummis and Keyblades here." He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. Naminé looked down as a white and red being popped out from behind the counter and gave a short wave to Naminé. "That's a moogle, they create the Keyblades out of gems, stones, and shards that we collect."

"It's cute," Naminé reached out and lightly took the Moogle's stub and shook it, giggling lightly.

"I guess I could offer you a job here," Gepetto continued, causing Naminé to turn her attention to him again. "You could shine the stones or help Pinocchio clean, or anything else that I can think of. And while you're at it, I can teach you how to distinguish between each keyblade and gummi block." He smiled warmly and held out a hand. "What do you say? You can start next monday once you've had time to settle in."

Namine looked at him, confused, not paying attention to the Moogle that was now currently bouncing around her in a circle. "How did you know that I'm not from around here?"

"I've worked in Twilight Town almost as long as I've lived in Traverse Town," Gepetto replied patiently, putting his arm down. "I've been around here long enough to know when someone is new around here. It's not a bad thing, I was just making an observation." He held his hand out once more. "So, do we have a deal? You start next week?"

Naminé stood up and gripped his hand, shaking it firmly. "I'd like that, thank you very much!"

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. Now we have Naminé learning a bit more about the gangs that run through the city. I thought that it would be a good idea if I made it that Gepetto and Pinocchio (in human form) were working the shop with the Moogles. I also couldn't think of what to do with the Gummis, so I decided to make it that it's what they used to make cars (since there's no point of the other worlds being involved in this story, at least for now).

I'm having a bit of trouble making longer chapters, but I'm working on it, this one was a bit of a long one, but as the story goes on I'll try my hardest to make them even longer.

Cheers,

-Riles


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

It was nighttime when Roxas finally reached the pizza shop after getting Axel's text. The streets were quiet and the stars twinkled overhead; a juxtaposition to the tension that was mounting in the quiet streets of Twilight Town.

"Yo, dude." Roxas gave Axel a high-five as he slid into the booth across from the red-head and Larxene, sitting next to Xion. He wasn't sure if Larxene and Axel were even dating, they didn't say anything about it when asked. If anything they were just firends with benefits, Roxas wouldn't put it past Larxene. She seemed to have gone through every guy in the gang apart from her and Marluxia (the latter they were almost positive was gay).

Xion gave Roxas a warm smile and he just tilted his head up in a quick nod to her, keeping his gaze down. His body ached and he did everything he could to try not to let it show in his posture or on his face. He needed to push it out of his head, it would just ruin the mood while he hung out with his friends, and they were already depressing as it was.

In the booths behind him were Demyx, Marluxia, Saix, and Zexion. Roxas' eyes moved around the pizza shop, most of his friends were there and there were random people throughout the store. His lips pulled back into a slight curl of disgust when he noticed the uneasy looks that were cast his way.

He was used to it, the stares, the whispers, the rumors.

It came with the territory. It seemed to him that nowadays all of the teenagers in the area were looked at funny; no one could be sure whether or not they were part of the gangs that were terrorizing the different towns and late at night.

"What'd I miss?" Roxas asked as he pulled his hood up over his head, sinking low in his seat.

"Not much," Axel replied with a shrug, his arm around Larxene's shoulders. "We haven't heard a thing from the Shooters yet." He looked at his watch. "But it shouldn't be long until we get a message one way or another." He slowly moved his emerald gaze around the pizza shop. "But I'm good in the meantime."

"Of course we had to stop and fill Axel's never-satisfied stomach before we did our patrols." Xion said with a short roll of her eyes. She turned sideways in the seat and placed her right foot on the plush cushion, bringing her knee up to her chest. She then turned her gaze to Roxas, studying the side of his face as he continued to sit, slumped in his seat, not saying anything in return. "You ok, Rox?" she asked, reaching out and lightly nudging his arm.

Roxas let out a quiet hiss as he grabbed onto his bicep, holding onto it with his left hand. His fingers dug into his skin, waiting for the pain to subside before he lowered his hand again. "I'm fine." He replied, casually stretching his arms above his head. "I just had to stop at home, made sure that things were ok before I came here."

That was all the explanation that was needed. Roxas didn't give much information about his home life and he made it clear that no one was to know or to ask about it. Ever since his mother died, he had been very sensitive about the topic, even having beat up Demyx when he had made a callous joke about it. But that's what you had to expect with Demyx, it was often that he showed his lack of tact. When he made that mistake, he and the others never made the mistake of bring it up again.

Roxas shook his head as he leaned forward in his seat, resting his arms on the table. He reached up his right hand and lightly pulled at his lower lip before running his tongue over it. His lip stung as it hit the split skin and the blood. The coppery taste filled his mouth as he quickly licked away the bead of blood that had come to the surface. He briefly closed his eyes before opening them again, sitting back in his seat.

"So when're we supposed to get that pizza? I'm starving." He announced.

"We put the order in a few minutes before you got here," Larxene replied. Her blue eyes lit up with a sadistic glow. "But I could speed up the process if you're really that impatient."

"Save your energy." Roxas held up a hand. "I don't need you to waste it on something as trivial as this."

"In that case," Larxene stood up and shoved Axel hard on the shoulder. "Get out so I can go to the bathroom." Axel muttered something that sounded like 'controlling bitch' under his breath before he slid out of the booth. Larxene pulled herself out and turned to Xion. "Come to the bathroom with me."

"I never pegged you as someone that needed to have a girl go to the bathroom _with_ you," Roxas commented as he moved out of the booth so Xion could get out. "Frankly, I never figured out to be that girly as it is."

"Watch it, Rox," Larxene reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, using her free hand to smooth back his hair. "I don't take that kind of stereotypical shit from anyone." She smirked. "But I'll cut you some slack because I like you so much."

"God forbid he sees what you look like when you're not happy." Axel deadpanned.

Larxene gave him the finger and the two girls disappeared into the back of the restaurant. Roxas turned to Axel as the two slid into their seats, but didn't say anything. Axel just pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. He placed the cigarette in his mouth and took a drag before leaning his head back to rest against the top of his seat, closing his eyes. He let out a breath, sending the smoke up towards the ceiling.

Roxas closed his eyes as well, trying to block out the noise of the restaurant. Everything faded away, but like usual, he was stuck in his thoughts from earlier that day, when he had gone home after school before going to meet up with his friends. His father was home, that was a bit of a shock as he was never home that early, but he wasn't surprised to find him sitting on the couch, a beer in hand and watching TV. As soon as Roxas had appeared in the doorway, he was on his son asking question after question about his day. It was more an interrogation than anything else.

But it was normal for Roxas; he just gave him simple answers as he went to his room to change out of his school clothes. But that didn't fly with his father that day; it seemed that he was giving Raiden Hokkaido an attitude. Roxas had reacted quickly, hearing his father bearing down behind him, and turned, defending himself from his father. But that didn't keep him from getting hit in the face. It was a blur, he saw his father's fist heading towards his face, and the next thing he knew, his father was on the ground, knocked out and snoring loudly.

Roxas had gone to his room, changed quickly, left his father a note, and headed into town, wandering around until he had gotten Axel's text to meet them at the pizza parlor. Sometimes he wondered why he even went home when he knew that it would be the same thing every night. But he knew that his father was hurting as much as he was and was dealing with his grief in a different way than Roxas was.

"So do you think that the Shooters are going to do anything today?" Axel asked, causing Roxas to open his eyes and train them onto his friend. "I mean," he waved his cigarette around. "We've been off of each other's territory for a while, what makes you think that today will be the day that they do something."

"I don't know," Roxas blew his blonde fringe out of his face. "I don't know," he repeated. "Up until a couple of weeks ago, I used to be able to anticipate what they were going to do, even know it before they would do it, but lately, nothing. I'm not letting my guard down for it, though."

"You have seemed a bit off lately." Axel agreed. "Even Sora whipped you when you guys were fighting in school."

Roxas glared. "If memory serves correctly, I won that fight."

"Yeah, barely." Axel snorted. "If it wasn't for that Kairi chick getting in the way, you would have been crushed."

Roxas snorted, resting his chin in his hands. His eyes narrowed as he thought about it, but then his mind did a complete 180. "I just realized that Naminé was there that day. It was her first day at school." He murmured. "I wonder when she moved in."

"Getting soft on the new girl, huh?" Axel slowly grinned, showing his razor sharp teeth.

"You were the one that wanted to tell her about all of this," Roxas reminded him his voice growing dark. Axel's smile immediately faded as he looked back at the leader of his gang. Though Roxas was young and looked innocent, like a normal teenage boy, he could be threatening when he wanted to. "Don't forget that. But you heard what Hagatha said when she got to school, she's 'special' somehow. It might be why she moved, and until we figure out why she's so special, I don't want her anywhere near this."

"So by doing that, you're going to pretend to be her friend while you try to keep her away from the Destiny Shooters?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "How'd you plan on doing that? It's not like she can continue to be a major outcast at school, if we don't get her first, the Destiny Shooters will."

"Do you always have to challenge me like that?" Roxas asked in a low growl.

"Of course," Axel leaned forward so his arms were resting on the table and smirked. "_I'm_ your best friend."

Roxas mimicked Axel's stance and opened his mouth to retort, but a fluttering of footsteps and shouts grabbed his attention. He looked up just in time to watch Yuffie and Tidus sprint out of the pizza shop, Larxene and Xion chasing after them. Everyone sprung into action in that one moment.

Roxas leapt to his feet and held out his hands, allowing his keyblades to fall into his palms and he jumped over the table, knocking it over in the process. The innocent bystanders in the shop started to scream and duck for cover as Axel and the others hurried after Roxas.

Roxas blasted out of the pizza shop and followed Xion and Larxene down the street until he reached the fight. Everyone was there. Wait. He did a double-take, almost everyone. Sora and Kairi were nowhere to be seen, but the rest of the Destiny Shooters were there. Roxas looked over his shoulder at the members of his own gang, the Twilight Knights. They had dwindled down a bit since the first five members had left the city. Gang life wasn't what they needed anymore, so they had passed the title as the leader down onto Roxas.

He wasn't sure how they were going to hold up if they didn't get more members soon, but they were strong as it was and could hold their own when they needed it.

Roxas' eyes roamed over those that were fighting as his companions raced after him to get into battle, and he spotted Riku quickly heading towards him. "Fire!" He called, moving Oblivion forward and shooting a fireball out at him.

Riku quickly dodged to the side and leapt forward, closing the gap between them. He swung his keyblade, Way to Dawn, down and slashed it into Roxas' shoulder as he was too slow to move aside. Roxas let out a cry of pain and pivoted on his left foot, using his Oathkeeper keyblade to block his next swing and to push him back.

"Blizzard!"

Roxas shot the icy blast into Riku's face to slow Riku down before darting forward and slashing Riku with his keyblade on his leg. Riku let out a roar of anger and pain before the two went at it. With each swing and each clash of the keyblades blocking each other, sparks were flying up and down the street. Roxas ignored the sounds of the rest of his gang fighting as he focused solely on fighting Riku. The two, for the most part, were evenly matched, but it was obvious that Riku was more skillfull than the blonde boy.

On another swing towards him, Riku managed to hook Roxas' keyblade in his and swing him around, sending him crashing through a storefront window. Roxas groaned as he felt glass pricking his skin, but he moved his keyblades up over his face to make the shape of an 'x' as Riku followed him. Riku's keyblade crashed into Roxas' shield and he grunted, trying to push them down onto Roxas.

"I'm not surprised to see that you're here fighting when Sora and Kairi aren't around." Roxas managed to say through gritted teeth, his arms shaking at the effort of keeping Riku away from him. "What would they think if they saw that you weren't trying?"

"They don't know anything," Riku replied, pushing down harder. "Neither do you."

"Do I?" Roxas shot back. "What would they think when they realize that you're not fighting to your full potential? You're never around when they are, they'll notice it soon. They'll start to ask questions. What are you going to do then?"

Riku jumped back so he was standing at the front of the store. Roxas slowly got to his feet, the threat was gone, but they were going to keep their keyblades out to be sure. Roxas started to smirk at the silver-haired boy; the latter's blue-green eyes narrowing as the seconds passed.

"They'll kick you out, you'll be a disgrace," Roxas continued to say, his smirk widening. "You might as well come clean soon. What would you best friend think?"

"That's interesting for _you_ to say." Riku replied evenly.

Roxas' smirk turned to a scowl, but he didn't say anything, he didn't move. Riku's keyblade disappeared and he turned and jumped out of the empty space where the window had been, disappearing from sight. Roxas, still holding onto his keyblade, walked over to the window and carefully climbed out as well.

The fight had died down at that point, Zexion and Demyx were chasing off Yuffie at that point, and the others were walking over to Roxas, waiting to see what he had to say.

"They were trying to catch us off guard, so they could get into our territory," Axel announced, his chakrams disappearing. "Sora and Kairi seem to be indisposed at the moment, or they were trying to keep their strongest from being around."

"If that were the case, Riku wouldn't have been here." Xion pointed out.

"She's right," Roxas agreed. He turned away for a moment, missing her proud smile. "It had to have been something else. But we won't figure out what it is tonight." His keyblades disappeared and he raised his hands over his head. "Tonight was a victory for us, be prepared in case something happens tomorrow at school! Now go home and get some sleep!"

Roxas watched them walk away, bidding goodbye over their shoulders.

The night air was cold and damp.

Roxas continued to stand in the middle of the street, his chest heaving up and down. He looked around, catching glimpses of vulgar graffiti that mimics and symbolizes the violence that had been running rampant. He was a mess; leaning against a brick wall with nothing but frustration in his heart and blood on his clothes.

His clothes are torn and there was a two inch mark, deep in his shoulder. Roxas gave a short smile; Riku had put up quite a fight that time. It was bleeding, but was clotting pretty quickly as well. The silence of the night surrounded him. Xion silently walked up to his side and placed her hand on his shoulder. Roxas was slightly startled, but didn't flinch. "It's cold, Roxas. It's late. Let's go, nothing else is going to happen tonight," she told him.

"How do you know that?" Roxas questioned.

"The Destiny Shooters don't attack after one, come on you know that," Xion said.

"Go ahead," Roxas swallowed thickly. "Go home. I'm going to stay out here for a while."

"Why?" Xion asked.

Roxas gave a humorless laugh as he stuck out his tongue and ran it over his bottom lip. "At this point, I'd rather be anywhere than at home." He shrugged. "But as it's the only place that I have to go…I'll wait a while more before I go back."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

* * *

Stepping out into the street, the sudden change in lighting made Naminé wince. She brought her hands up to her face, to shield the light, but that didn't help. The light seemed to move directly through her hands.

Naminé lowered her arms and looked around.

No car was turning around the corner or was even near her. But she could hear the sound of one approaching from a distance. She cautiously stepped out into the road. Something was wrong. She could feel it.

The car barreled around the corner, heading towards her. She squinted against the bright headlights, choking on the exhaust fumes. Then there was a woman in the middle of the road. Mrs. Agatha. She was picking up a grocery bag that she had dropped, seemingly not noticing that the car was heading towards her, going faster and faster as each second passed.

Naminé screamed and turned away.

She could hear the tires squealing and then the sound of the car hitting Mrs. Agatha's body. There was a shriek and then a thud. Then silence. Naminé slowly pulled her hands from her face and forced herself to turn around, to be sure that her teacher was ok. Already, blood was pooling under the woman's head, with more of the red liquid trickling down her chin. The worst was her eyes, staring right up towards the sky, dark and vacant.

Suddenly, the dusty street was back, the sun shining as bright as ever. There was no car, no blood and most importantly no Mrs. Agatha on the pavement. Naminé shuddered and walked across the road, telling herself not to look back over her shoulder. A faint ringing of bells was audible as she continued down the street. Then there were grunts and screams; the sound of many people struggling. Soon, she was surrounded by people fighting each other.

Punches were being thrown.

Kicks were being lashed out.

And no matter how hard someone was hit, they would get back to their feet and keep fighting, as if nothing happened.

"Stop….stop it!" Naminé called, looking around. But no one listened to her, they continued with their feet, their black clothes shadowing each of them, making it hard to see anyone's face. Naminé let out a shriek and jumped backwards when two people landed at her feet. They slowly stood up and turned to her. "Who….who are you?"

The two looked at each other before pulling off their hoods, causing her to gasp. Sora and Roxas stood in front of her, their blue eyes boring into her seriously.

"You have to choose." Sora said to Naminé. His usual friendly smile was gone from his face.

"Choose?" Naminé repeated.

"Who do you want?" Roxas said, his eyes narrowing.

Naminé opened her mouth to say something, but no words would come out. She reached her hands up to her throat as she desperately tried to say something. But her throat was constricting; there was smoke in the air. Her eyes darted around, fire, ice, and lighting were flying all over the place, but no one seemed to notice. They were still fighting as hard as ever.

"You're special, Naminé." Roxas continued.

"You know that you are, everyone knows that you're special." Sora continued. "You have to decide, who you want to help?"

…

..

.

Naminé's eyes shot wide open as she sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes darted around her darkened room; she could feel herself in her bed, her heart pounding like crazy. It was alright, she was in her room, not out in the middle of the street. Mrs. Agatha was ok and no one was fighting each other.

Sora and Roxas weren't asking her to choose.

"Choose what?" Naminé whispered to herself, running her hand over her face. "Why would I need to choose?" She pushed herself up and flipped her pillow over, resting her cheek on the cool fabric. "And why am I special?"

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it's short. I've been busy with work, but this idea came to I did one chapter with Roxas' dream/daydream and I needed to do one with Naminé. It may be confusing, but it's really important.

Cheers,

-Riles


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

* * *

When Naminé woke up the next morning, the dream was stuck in her head. What did she have to choose between Roxas and Sora for? Couldn't she just be friends with both of them?

She knew that it didn't have anything to do with friendship between the two of them, it was something bigger. She could feel something calling to her, pulling her, right before they appeared. And then there was the warnings that she was getting from other students; who to hang out with, who _not_ to hang out with.

And the phone calls…

She had gotten two of them in the middle of the night, warning her to stay away from Roxas. She had demanded to know who it was, but they just repeated the message and hung up. She tried reverse calling them, but all she got was a dial tone.

_"You have to choose." Sora said to Naminé. His usual friendly smile was gone from his face._

_"Choose?" Naminé repeated._

_"Who do you want?" Roxas said, his eyes narrowing._

_Naminé opened her mouth to say something, but no words would come out. She reached her hands up to her throat as she desperately tried to say something. But her throat was constricting; there was smoke in the air. Her eyes darted around, fire, ice, and lighting were flying all over the place, but no one seemed to notice. They were still fighting as hard as ever._

_"You're special, Naminé." Roxas continued._

_"You know that you are, everyone knows that you're special." Sora continued. "You have to decide, who you want to help?"_

Naminé ran her hands over her face, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Special," she murmured to herself as she climbed out of bed. "Mrs. Agatha said the same thing." She crossed the room to her dresser and started to change into her school uniform. "What's so special about me? How do they know about it and not me?"

Naminé gathered her things into her backpack and looked at her watch, letting out a groan when she realized that she had slept late and was going to be late for school. Picking up her backpack, she hurried down the stairs to the kitchen, grabbing a Pop Tart before racing out of the house and down the front steps, closing the door behind her.

Before she knew it, she crashed into something in front of her.

"Whoa," Roxas' voice reached her ears as his hands moved to her shoulders to steady her. "What's the rush?"

"I'm late," Naminé gasped as she took a step back, moving her hair from her face. She looked behind Roxas and spotted Axel and a blonde girl standing behind him. Her gaze fell to her feet, almost instinctively.

"Relax, you're not late." Roxas continued. He put his arm around Naminé's shoulders and turned around, propelling the small girl with him. "Nami, you remember Axel?" Axel gave a short salute. He then motioned to the blonde. "And this is our friend Larxene, she's a senior too."

"She's kind of short, don't you think?" Larxene spoke up as she looked Naminé up and down with a disapproving glance. "Will she really help us?"

"Uh," Naminé lifted her head, her blonde fringe falling into her face. "What am I helping you with, exactly?"

"Nothing," Roxas shook his head, removing his arm from Naminé's shoulders. "She doesn't know what she's talking about," He shot Larxene a look as he turned back to Naminé. "But she's going to be walking with us to school from now on, ok?"

Naminé shrugged and nodded and the four of them started to walk down the street towards the high school at a leisurely pace. Naminé couldn't help but look at her watch; they _were_ going to be late. She was never late for school. Shifting her blue eyes to the side, she looked at Larxene, Axel, and Roxas. They didn't seem to be in any hurry.

"The teachers don't care if you're late," Axel explained, noticing her apprehensive glances. "At least, most don't care. Others try to give us detention for it, but we never go." He shrugged, putting an arm around Larxene's shoulders and pulling her into his side. "You won't get in trouble, don't worry."

"A-are you sure?" Naminé asked, her hands moving up to grip her backpack straps.

"He's sure," Roxas nodded before looking over at Naminé, giving her a pleasant smile. "Relax, Nami."

Naminé quietly nodded.

It wasn't until they had reached the front doors of the school, that she realized what he had been calling her. She got his attention as Larxene and Axel disappeared inside the double doors.

"Uh, Roxas?"

"Yeah?" Roxas turned to face her, flashing another smile. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Naminé blushed and looked away. "It's just…uh….you called me Nami." She dug the toe of her shoe into the ground as Roxas chuckled at her.

"Yeah, so?" He asked and then paused as she made a whimpering sound under her breath and tilted her head even further towards the ground. "Oh, you don't like it? Sorry, I just thought that you would like it if I gave you the nickname. I won't call you that if you don't want me to."

"It's not that, it's just…" Naminé lifted her head and looked at him for a second before looking away once more. "Never mind, it's not important."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Cool," Roxas' eyes lit up. "Let's get going to Homeroom then."

* * *

Naminé could feel all eyes on her.

When she got to the classroom that day, she immediately noticed that Xion, Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Selphie were staring at her. Xion and Selphie both looked jealous, Sora and Kairi looked confused and a bit worried, and Riku just seemed to be staring right through her. The rest of the class just looked at her for a moment and then looked away. But there was no mistaking that she had come into the room with Roxas, everyone knew that they were with each other before they got there. But the question was, what were they doing?

_They'd probably have a field day if they knew that they walked with me to school today. _Naminé looked over and caught Kari's glance, giving a small smile and a wave.

Kairi gave a small smile back before leaning forward and whispering to Sora and Riku, who then looked her way. Naminé's smile widened a little and Sora grinned back at her before turning back to the front of the classroom.

"Alright," Mrs. Agatha spoke up, sounding even more cranky than usual. She picked up a yard stick that was by her desk and turned around, smacking it against the board behind her. "What's this?" she asked, pointing to a row of letters that moved across the top of the board.

Naminé's eyebrows furrowed together, sure that it was a trick question. But when she looked around the room, she noticed that the other students didn't seem to notice how weird the question was.

_I guess it's just the way that they teach here. _Naminé mused.

"It's…the alphabet" Tidus replied slowly, as if he was afraid that it was a trick question.

"Yes and no" Mrs. Agatha replied with a malicious smile.

"But…it _is_ the alphabet." Selphie turned her gaze away from her nails as she filed them. She gave Mrs. Agatha a look of pure boredom. "We learned this back in like, second grade."

"Well, the alphabet can stand for more than one thing." Mrs. Agatha replied in a condescending manner. "Think of it this way, the letter 'A'. What can you say about it?"

_"It's the first letter"_

_"It's probably the most common letter in words?"_

_"Uh, it's the best grade you can get?"_

Mrs. Agatha shook her head and muttered something under her breath before pinching the bridge of her nose. "The alphabet is different. You shouldn't judge it as only the alphabet. Each letter can represent a word that can describe each of you. Like Antsy, Beautiful, Cocky, Dumb," Silence. "Each word used against you can provoke a different emotion."

"So if we said that you were an old bat, what kind of emotion would that evoke in you?" Axel smirked.

"I already have a letter for you, Axel." Mrs. Agatha said with a tight-lipped smile. "P for Pain in my ass."

Naminé smiled.

But then her smiled faded as she thought about her dream the night before.

_The car barreled around the corner, heading towards her. She squinted against the bright headlights, choking on the exhaust fumes. Then there was a woman in the middle of the road. Mrs. Agatha. She was picking up a grocery bag that she had dropped, seemingly not noticing that the car was heading towards her, going faster and faster as each second passed._

_Naminé screamed and turned away._

_She could hear the tires squealing and then the sound of the car hitting Mrs. Agatha's body. There was a shriek and then a thud. Then silence. Naminé slowly pulled her hands from her face and forced herself to turn around, to be sure that her teacher was ok. Already, blood was pooling under the woman's head, with more of the red liquid trickling down her chin. The worst was her eyes, staring right up towards the sky, dark and vacant._

Naminé shivered. The very thought of it made her knees quake. Nausea racked her body and she swallowed hard, keeping her lips together tightly.

"Now, class, we are starting a new project today." Mrs. Agatha got straight to the point, not wanting to waste any more time. "You are going to study the strength of human emotions. You will be paired up, and you will be given to weeks to do research, write a 5 page report, and make a chart or poster for your presentation. One more thing is you _will_ find a way to get to one of the persons home."

Mrs. Agatha smile once more as the class sighed with annoyance. Like any student would, they wanted to do as little work on the project as they possibly could. The idea of being paired with someone they didn't like as well as having to go to their house was torturous. As Mrs. Agatha turned back to the white board. Picking up a marker, she began to write in small letters, the groups that would be working together.

Walking back to her desk, she sat down and began grading the papers from her other class. "Everyone stand up and find your partners. Team up with them and begin your project, and what emotion you wish to study."

Naminé stood up from her desk and waited as the aisles to clear as the class swarmed to see who they were going to be working with. As she gathered her things together, Roxas suddenly appeared at her side, his sudden appearance causing her to jump.

"We're in the same group," he said with a smile. "So that's going to be cool, I already know where you live."

Naminé gave a soft smile in return. "So, who else is going to be working with us?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper. Roxas made a face and leaned forward, moving his ear towards her. Naminé's cheeks flushed and she leaned towards him as well, hoping to be heard over the ruckus the class was making. "I said, I was wondering who else was going to be in our group."

"Oh, yeah," Roxas' smile faded quickly. "We're working with Sora and Kairi, so I guess we're going to be going over to Destiny Islands some days."

"That sounds fun," Naminé said as she shifted her things in her arMrs. "Being able to go to the beach," she shrugged. "Watching sunsets and stuff. I bet their houses are pretty coo-"

"Yeah, I guess." Roxas interrupted, sounding bored.

"So," Naminé turned around and faced Sora and Kairi. Sora had his arms behind his head, a smile still on his face. It seemed that he was the only one that wasn't nervous about who they were going to be working with; Kairi and Roxas continued to shoot glances at each other. She could feel the tension rise almost immediately. "Looks like we're going to be working together then. How about we go to the café in Traverse Town and get something to eat while we start working after school?"

"Oh," Naminé shook her head. "Sorry, but I have to work."

"You have a job?" Kairi tore her hard stare away from Roxas and turned to her. "I didn't know that. Where do you work?"

"Uh," Naminé blushed as all eyes turned to her. "The gummy and keychain shop," she replied. "You know the one that Gepetto and his son Pinocchio work at?" She adjusted her already straight skirt. "I got a job there last night, I start today."

"No problem," Sora said smoothly. "We can just start when you get off of work. We can wait for you." He turned to Roxas. "Sound good?"

Roxas nodded once. "Sounds great."

* * *

**A/N: **Things are heating up for Naminé now that she had to work in close proximity with Roxas, Sora, _and_ Kairi. Sorry for the wait.

Cheers,

-Riles


End file.
